Kazmir's an All-Star

Red Sox - Rays are spoilsports: Best line of the article regarding future All-Star Scott Kazmir

"'I was very impressed with how he was able to throw the curveball, for someone to make me look that silly,' said Johnny Damon,"

And here's the Globe profile article which goes a little more indepth with our rookie phenom. Flat out, he could be pitching for the Mets right now. As soon as they fire Art Howe, and pry away Lou Pinella from Tampa, things will be okay. Jim Duquette or who ever had the final say on the Victor Zambrano trade should be fired immediately. And not just from the Mets, fired from professional baseball. Let them spend a couple of years at the collegiate level getting back in touch with the game, and learning who is good, and who isn't! Here's to Tampa hitting its goal of a team-record 70-wins on the season.

And our man Joe Burris has an article on Connecticut quarterback Dan Orlovsky who leads the Huskies against Boston College this Friday.

Don't know why I'm putting this article in here, other than the fact Burris is the man, and I want to see how bad one of these teams shows up on Friday night. Who plays on Friday night by the way? Its high school football night in my mind, you're devaluing your program by bowing to the demands of ESPN. And if you talk about exposure, what high school recruit is going to watch your game on a Friday? WINS get more respect than anything else. Look at New Hampshire who posted huge wins at Delaware (good riddence) and at Rutgers (suprising because I thought maybe coach Schiano had turned the program around). The Wildcats are what its all about, NOT Friday night college football.

Must be a good news day, and the Providence Journal kicks in with a little research on this school Cheyney that got clobbered by Northeastern two weeks ago, 71-0. Apparently they got crushed again this past week against Western Illinois, 98-7.

The shame of it all

Coaches and administrators at Cheyney University in Pennsylvania should be ashamed of themselves for what happened to their football team the last two weeks. Cheyney, a Division II school (think Bryant), scheduled not one but two Division I-AA opponents this season. And on consecutive weekends! The results were humiliating: Northeastern 71, Cheyney 0; Western Illinois 98, Cheyney 7.

Playing up a division can be a rewarding experience, even if a loss is inevitable. URI players will always remember their trip to Syracuse two years ago, despite the 63-17 drubbing. Plus, the financial guarantee from a I-A opponent helps ease the sting of defeat.

But there is no excuse for putting a team in position to lose by such wide margins as Cheyney did. Fifteen freshmen started against Northeastern, ranked No. 21 in The Sports Network I-AA preseason poll and No. 18 this week. The offense generated 149 yards, and the defense allowed 563.

Western Illinois, ranked No. 16, scored touchdowns on 14 possessions and ended its 15th by taking a knee as time expired. Cheyney's offense produced 190 yards this time, and the defense gave up 688. Western Illinois rushed for 517 yards. The score was 42-0 after the first quarter and 70-0 at the half. Western Illinois coach Don Patterson played his fourth-stringers in the fourth quarter and struggled to keep them from scoring.

"This was one of the more awkward positions in coaching that I have ever been in," he said on the school's Web site. "In 30 years of coaching I just have never seen a game like tonight's. My concern was that there is a moral dilemma. What were we going to do? The men in that game were intent on proving to their coach that they were better than fourth-team players, and you have to admire them for that."

Cheyney coach Lee Brown said: "We knew this game was going to be grueling and a learning experience for our players and for our coaches. We knew that Northeastern and Western Illinois were two of the top Division I-AA programs in the country, and we had realistic expectations about this experience when we scheduled the games. But the bottom line wasn't about the game. It was about the opportunity to acquire something to take with us for the next eight weeks of the season . . . for our team to experience the game at the finest level we could."

Brown should reconsider if another I-AA school calls for a date in 2005. His team also lost its opener to D-II Lock Haven, 35-19.